Chapter 94: Explosives Begin with Alchemy

A purple jade slip lay quietly on a bed of green grass. Xu Xiaoshou retrieved it, pressed the jade slip to his forehead, and quickly reviewed its contents.

"Looks pretty simple..."

It contained various basic alchemy facts, but focused more on fire control techniques. He opened his palm, condensed his spiritual energy, and a faint crackling sound emanated from it. This invisible flame would be almost impossible to control – even discerning its size – without his "Perception" ability. He wondered how that old geezer could be so at ease, letting him figure things out on his own.

"'Compress the flame to its utmost, by about ten times, concentrating all its energy at the center. If it explodes, it can unleash terrifying destructive power...'"

"Uh, that last part probably isn't the main point. The crucial part should be using the weakened energy emitted from the outside for alchemy..."

Recalling the contents of the jade slip, Xu Xiaoshou felt a little nervous. The Cinder Flame was too overpowering; it wasn't really suitable for alchemy. He couldn't imagine what the founder was thinking to devise such a terrifying alchemy method. If he mishandled it and it exploded...

Xu Xiaoshou looked up at the large red orb above his head. The jade slip said this item could absorb heat energy, so it should also be able to contain an explosion.

"Let's try it."

Under his mental control, the large cluster of flames in his hand stopped spreading energy outwards and instead retracted inwards, gradually forming a human-head-sized sphere. Intense heat emanated from it, seeming even more volatile. Xu Xiaoshou gritted his teeth and continued to exert effort.

*Poof!*

With a faint sound, the human-head-sized spherical flame compressed further, shrinking to the size of a fist. Terrifying high temperatures radiated from it, distorting the space around it. Xu Xiaoshou was dumbfounded.

"What's going on?"

"Shouldn't all the energy be contained within? Why is there such intense heat?"

He stared blankly at the intangible sphere in his hand, which he could easily cup. With a thought, it began to spin rapidly.

Rasen... Rasengan?

"Damn it, I'm off track again! This isn't the direction I should be researching!" Xu Xiaoshou's face darkened.

According to the jade slip, if this item could be compressed to the size of a fingernail, with all its heat contained internally, it would become an "Extreme Flame." The residual heat it radiated would then form a "Virtual Flame." Only with this significantly cooler "Virtual Flame" could alchemy begin.

But!

During the alchemy process, one not only had to constantly maintain the "Virtual Flame's" temperature but also continually guard against the fingernail-sized "Extreme Flame." Mishandle it, and both the pill and the alchemist would be destroyed!

Looking at the sphere in his hand, Xu Xiaoshou's expression soured. With the item compressed to this extent, he was already nearing his limit. Fine beads of sweat seeped from his forehead. Xu Xiaoshou gritted his teeth, and the spherical flame in his hand flickered twice, instantly compressing to the size of a fingernail. In his "Perception," wisps of invisible mist emerged from it, coalescing into a hazy mass outside.

Virtual Flame!

It had formed!

Xu Xiaoshou was overjoyed, but in the next second, his smile froze. The compressed fire seed in his hand trembled violently twice, then stopped. A false alarm... No! The energy inside was surging! He couldn't control it anymore!

Xu Xiaoshou's pupils constricted, and his hairs stood on end. A sense of death enveloped him. He looked up at the large red orb above, wondering if it couldn't absorb the energy and ended up blowing up the Spiritual Repository. Can't risk it!

Xu Xiaoshou rushed to the window and abruptly threw the item out into the sky.

*Boom!*

A deafening blast echoed in the void. Grandiose, surging, scorching energy spread out like ripples, blasting a clear hole through the sky above the Spiritual Repository. Air currents surged upwards, vaguely forming a massive, barely visible mushroom cloud amidst the void's fluctuations.

"Holy moly!"

Xu Xiaoshou stared in disbelief. Was this alchemy? This was clearly an incredibly powerful offensive technique! From now on, besides his "Drifting White Clouds" four forms, he had another terrifying self-created spiritual technique? And one that caused massive, indiscriminate, super-strong damage?

Xu Xiaoshou felt a surge of excitement. Maintaining the stability of this "compressed fire seed" was extremely difficult, but making it unstable was ridiculously easy. He inwardly scanned his qi sea. Compressing a fire seed the size of a fingernail consumed about thirty percent of his Cinder Flame spiritual energy. But with the recovery from "Full Vigor," his spiritual energy had already returned to about eighty percent. He estimated that sitting for a few more minutes would truly make him "Full of Vigor"...

"Want to try again?"

Xu Xiaoshou spread both hands. More than half of his spiritual energy was instantly consumed as two rising invisible flames appeared in each palm.

*Puff, puff!*

Compress, and re-compress—

The fingernail-sized compressed fire seeds took shape, almost effortlessly. However, the energy within them was even more volatile than the previous one, as Xu Xiaoshou was no longer intentionally controlling it.

*Whoosh!**Whoosh!*

He flicked both hands, and the two invisible fire seeds shot across the sky, colliding with each other.

*BOOM!!*

The explosion's effect was far beyond one plus one equals two. This time, Xu Xiaoshou clearly saw the Spiritual Repository's protective barrier appear, seemingly resisting the furious scorching energy. This was just the aftermath! If he threw a few of these at the Spiritual Repository...

Cough, cough, can't think about that. New idea!

Imagine... In the future, if he were surrounded by an army, he could nonchalantly rise on his sword, continuously compress these things using "Full Vigor," and drop them one by one. Wouldn't he be a human bomber? How much adoration and resentment would that gather?

"Ohohoho..."

Xu Xiaoshou's eyes narrowed into slits as he laughed. He had initially intended to refine pills but unexpectedly seemed to have stumbled upon an extremely terrifying killing move.

"Hmm, it needs a name."

The "Drifting White Clouds" four forms all had names; he couldn't neglect this one and just casually call it "compressed fire seed"!

"It's so small, compressed from a sphere, and fire-attribute..."

"Alright, let's call it 'Little Fireball Technique.' Perfect!"

He retracted his gaze from the window, clapped his hands in satisfaction, and then noticed the large three-legged bathtub.

"Uh, I'm off track again. Alchemy is important, alchemy is important..."

***

Zhao Xidong, with a blade of grass in his mouth and his hands clasped behind his head, strolled leisurely, enjoying himself. After sending He Yuxing to the execution platform, he didn't have much else to do. As for Su Qianqian splitting the inner courtyard's spiritual ground... As long as no one died, a little skirmish in the inner courtyard was nothing. He could turn a blind eye, and the matter would pass.

Just then, a loud boom echoed from the sky.

*Boom!*

A terrifying burst of scorching energy exploded in the void not far away. Zhao Xidong's pupils constricted.

That was...

The direction of the Spiritual Repository!

He recalled the masked intruder incident from last night, and a faint ominous premonition stirred within him.

*BOOM!*

An even larger explosion struck, though far away. Yet, his spiritual perception allowed him to see that even the Spiritual Repository's protective barrier had appeared. In broad daylight, someone was attacking the Spiritual Repository! How much confidence would that take?!

At this moment, Zhao Xidong felt his scalp tingle. He shot into the sky and bellowed:

"Enemy attack!!!"